Hong Kong employees predict gloomy economic outlook in 2017

But 59% also believes their employers will be richer next year.

The global economic landscape continues to show signs of stagnation and employees in Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia have expressed their concern for the coming year. According to Randstad’s latest Workmonitor research report, 62% of employees across all three markets have stated they expect the economic situation in their country to further deteriorate in 2017.

This sentiment surpassed the global average of 49%.

Employees in Singapore were the least pessimistic in the region with 61% highlighting their concern for further economic deterioration. Nearly seven in ten (68%) male employees noted that they expected further economic deterioration in Singapore, much higher than the 56% of women who with the same sentiment.

Here's more from Randstad:

In Hong Kong female sentiment was stronger to that in Singapore with 64% being pessimistic about economic recovery, compared to 61% of male employees. 66% of Millennials (aged 18 to 24) were more pessimistic around economic recovery than their older colleagues (aged 35 to 54) with 61%.

The most pessimistic employees in the region were those in Malaysia - 70% of all employees across both genders and all age groups expected further economic deterioration in 2017.

Employees in the region also held lower expectations than the global average with regards to their employer’s financial performance in 2017, reflecting the low confidence around overall economic recovery.

Despite having the highest percentage of employees who expected further economic deterioration, 70% of employees in Malaysia stated that they expected their employer financial performance to increase in 2017. This sentiment was the highest compared to Singapore and Hong Kong, as well as the global average.

Managing Director for Randstad Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia, Michael Smith noted, “Retrenchments and hiring freezes as well as news of major global issues, such as Brexit and the U.S. elections, have kept employees taking a more cautionary stance with regards to their expectations for the coming year.”

“Despite this, with organisations taking a wait-and-see approach, it still remains to be seen how the economy will perform and how this will affect employee sentiment,” added Smith.